Greetings Lemmings,

I realize that self-hosting for many is just a hobby. Something they do for fun. And the topic of today is usually a “not-so-fun” part of the IT industry.

Jump Scare Warning

Documentation

I have for so long just let my lab grow organically. And months down the road an issue pops up with a service, and I have no idea how I set something up, and may not have documented it. Whether that be comments inside of configuration files, or via other means.

I have gotten marginally better at documenting within the config files or code that I am writing. However, I don’t want just that as an option. So I spun myself up a Bookstack container.

I am slowly going through and creating what would amount to a full blown wiki for my setup. Doubly I can use this as part of my resume.

So I ask of you; what ways do you prefer to document? How do you keep yourself honest, and actually stick to it.

Edit: I created bash scripts that are run by a systemd service and timer. At least for my docker box.

  • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    I am learning about bookstack, it looks nice!

    I don’t have a good system.

    I keep a spreadsheet of the different important servers, their ip addresses, and notes in my nextcloud.

    In each of my admin home folders, i have an info.txt where I write notes to myself.

    Someday I’ll create a network diagram…

    • hellmo_luciferrari@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      I quite like Bookstack. The next step to my documentation journey is auto-uploading README.generated.md files that are generated by a script running on a timer triggering a service with systemd.

      Though this doesn’t cover my physical machines in production.